Risk and reporting

Last night at London's Frontline Club, CPJ launched its global
survey of press freedom conditions, Attacks on the Press. The topic of discussion was the safety
of journalists covering conflict and the panel consisted of journalist and
documentarian Jenny Kleeman, ITN safety guru Colin Pereira, and journalist and
filmmaker Maziar Bahari, who was imprisoned
in Iran following the disputed 2009 presidential elections.

I opened the discussion by citing some of the grim
statistics from the last year. Of the 46 journalists killed in 2011, 21 were murdered.
Eight died covering combat, and 17 were killed covering dangerous assignments
like street demonstrations from Cairo to Sana'a. All told 19 died covering
conflict in the Middle East.

For the next 90 minutes we talked about the challenges faced
by frontline reporters, from sexual
violence to post-traumatic stress.

During the questions and answers period, several young
freelancers raised their hands to ask for practical advice about working in
conflict zones. They recognized the danger, but wanted to pursue conflict
reporting for the same reason people have always done so, because they were both
idealistic and ambitious.

The panelists duly dispensed
our collective wisdom -- make sure you have life and health insurance, have
first-aid and hostile environment training, have the proper equipment, have a
security plan, find a good local stringer, stay close to an experienced reporter,
hone your judgment.

The next
morning we awoke to the devastating news that journalists Marie Colvin and Rémi
Ochlik had been killed
while reporting on the relentless shelling of Homs, Syria. Two of their
colleagues were badly injured. Colvin, who lost an
eye while covering the civil war in Sri Lanka, was widely regarded as one of
the fearless reporters of her generation. Ochlik had already
compiled an impressive body of work as a combat photographer.

The killing of Colvin and Ochlik, coming on the heels of the
death of New York Times correspondent
Anthony
Shadid in Syria from an apparent asthma attack, has shattered the journalist
community. And at least five other journalists have died working in Syria since the unrest began, including
local videographer Rami
al-Sayed, whose live
streams of the shelling formed a basis of much international coverage.

Still, I am certain this has not diminished the desire of young
journalists, like those who raised their hands last night at the Frontline Club
event, to follow in their footsteps. That's because what Colvin, Ochlik, and
Shadid did mattered tremendously; because their reporting from Homs has amplified
global awareness of the devastating brutality of the Assad regime and the
unspeakable humanitarian crisis unfolding in Syria.

Many lives have been lost.

Because of courageous reporting, how many might be saved?

Joel Simon is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Journalists. He has written widely on media issues, contributing to Slate, Columbia Journalism Review, The New York Review of Books, World Policy Journal, Asahi Shimbun, and The Times of India. He has led numerous international missions to advance press freedom. His book, The New Censorship: Inside the Global Battle for Media Freedom, will be released November 11, 2014. Follow him on Twitter @Joelcpj. His public GPG encryption key can be found here.